readathon – Book Dust Magic

Sunday Post (Weekly Wrap Up November 4th-10th) #SundayPost #Blogging #WrapUp #Reading

Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Kimba @ Caffeinated Book Reviewer.

This meme was created for bloggers to spotlight posts they published in the week, as well as to talk about what they plan to write in the week that’s coming.

Sunday post is also great opportunity to showcase books we got in the week behind us.

Hi Guys,

I hope you have a lovely Sunday.
It’s raining here in Zagreb and I love it. It’s the perfect weather to stay at home and read all the books, and since HoHoHo readathon is going on at the moment, it makes me appreciate it even more.
My plan is to finish my book today. I started readathon with the biggest book from my tbr (500+ pages) and blog hop. In other words, to have one relaxing Sunday.

The only thing that’s new in my life is we got a new fridge. We wanted to get one that is big enough for family of three, since we have a baby on the way, so we decided to go with 185×60 cm dimensions.
If we had bigger apartment, we’d go with two-winged one because they are much more practical and beautiful, but we have to go with what we have.
It’s a downside of living in a small space, but this apartment makes me happy because it is ours, and truth be told, I have never felt at more peace then I do now.

I also won one giveaway on Twitter, which was unexpected. Now I’ll have one more signed book in my (small) collection.

There’s only one thing that makes me mad: The birthday package I sent to my friend Amanda is still somewhere in Croatia even though I paid for it to be delivered per avion, in 5 days. I have sent it last month.
Our post office got really miserable in the last two years, I think it’s because so many people are underpaid and they don’t want to do their job, but it is no excuse.
The saddest thing about it is that I don’t have alternatives, and I’ll have to send Christmas presents via the same company, so I hope they won’t get lost.
I plan to send them at the very beginning of December, just in case.

Last Week on Book Dust Magic:

Monday: I reviewed The Hustle movie
Tuesday: I posted my HoHoHo Readathon TBR
Wednesday: I reviwed The Babysitters Coven by Kate Williams
Thursday: I talked about products I use to prevent stretch marks
Friday: I reviewed One Chrstmas Star by Mandy Baggot
Saturday: I revealed the gender of my baby

Next Week on Book Dust Magic:

Upcoming reviews:

I will also talk about changes on my body during pregnancy, and about how I met Katherine Arden + there will be a giveaway for her signed book The Bear and the Nightingale.

Currently reading:

I am currently reading The Christmas Invitation and it is my first read for HOHOHO readathon. It is okay but tbh. I hoped I’d be more interested in the story. I have more then half book to go, and it is getting better so let’s hope it will be a pleasant surprise in the end.

Book Haul:

I was approved for One Night on Ice via Netgalley, and I plan to read it during HoHoHo readathon.

That is it!
Let me know what’s been going on with you, what you’ve been reading or watching this week and feel free to leave your links so I can visit you.
Have a lovely Sunday!

My HoHoHo Readathon TBR 2019 #HoHoHoRAT #ReadAThon #BookBloggers #Christmas

Hi Guys,

It’s again that time of the year: The time when my favourite readathon is happening, thanks to Wonderful Kimberly from Caffeinated Book Reviewer who’s hosting HoHoHo Readathon for the seventh time, and it will be my third time participating.
Readathon takes place from November 8th to November 17th.

Last year I had so much fun and my only plan is to read more books than I have then. My aim is 6 books, and since readathon is 10 days long, I believe it is manageable.
I don’t have to go to work this year which is a plus, and also, in case you didn’t know, festive novels are my favourite kind so chances of me getting into reading slump are very, very slim (plus I only just got out of one recently).

I have two physical books I plan to read this time around:

I also plan to read these two Netgalley eARCs:

and

I have also requested two books via Netgalley, so if I get approved for them they will also make the cut, but if I get declined I’ll just pick up some other books from my physical collection.

That is it!
Wish me luck and please tell me will you be participating in HoHoHo readathon?
If yes, what are your goals? If you have a blog post about it, feel free to leave your links so I can visit you.

My Spookathon TBR #Spookathon #Readathon #Reading #BookTube

Hi guys!

So, after my failure in Contemporary-a-thon I decided to give myself another chance and I will be participating in Spookathon, a readathon hosted by booktuber Lala from BooksandLala, that takes place from October 14-20th.

I already knew I wanted to participate in one readathon during October, but I couldn’t find one that wasn’t too specific with challenges, and since I don’t have lots of books with ghosts, werewolfs or vampires, Spookathon really stood out to me, because of simplicity of it’s challenges.

There are 5 challenges and I chose one book for each, in hope I’ll finish at least three of them (but I feel like I could finish all 5).

Here are my picks for the challenges:

Read a thriller:

Read a book with red on the cover:

Read a book with a spooky word in the title: (Wicked is my spooky word)

Read a book with a spooky setting: (since there are vampires I assume there will be spooky setting as well!)

Read something you wouldn’t normally read: (I’m counting this because I haven’t read the popular prequel).

That is it!
Wish me luck! Let’s hope this time the readathon will be a success!

Tell me do you take part in Spookathon?
If you have TBR, feel free to leave your links so I can visit you!

How I failed Contemporary-a-thon #Contemporaryathon #BookLovers #Reading #Readathon

Hi guys,

If you follow my blog you probably know that I decided to participate in contemporary-a-thon, a readathon that took place last week.
There were 7 challenges and I was really ambitious, which you can read in my TBR post.

However, my reading was not going well last week, and I finished only 2 books, which is even worse then my Reading Rush wrap up was.

The main reason for my failure is the wrong choice of a book. I decided to read How to Make Friends with the Dark as my dark/hard hitting contemporary, and I just couldn’t bring myself to read it faster then I did, because it was so emotional.

If I was smarter, I would read multiple books at time, but I wasn’t, so I guess I learned my lesson for another time.

So in the end I read 757 pages and finished 4 challenges: Read a 2019 release, Read a dark/hard-hitting contemporary, Read a contemporary with an illustrated cover and Read a contemporary with plants on the cover.

These are two books that I have read: and .

Tell me did you participate in Contemporary-a-thon?
How many books did you read?
If you have wrap up feel free to leave your links so I can visit you.

Contemporary-a-thon TBR #Contemporaryathon #BookLovers #Reading #Readathon

Hi guys!

I just wanted to quickly let you know that I will be participating this month in fifth round of Contemporary-a-thon, which is hosted on Booktube.
Since I don’t have a booktube channel I will post my wrap up here on my blog, and today I bring you my tbr.

If you want to know more about this readathon and participate yourself, you can watch the announcement video here.

Contemporary-a-thon starts on September 23rd and it ends on 29th, so it’s a one week long readathon.
I am pretty excited to participate since contemporary is my favourite genre.

There are 7 challenges and I chose 4 books to read. If I manage to finish them all I will complete all of the challenges.

Here are the books I plan to read:

This will complete challenges Read a book with yellow on the cover (letters are yellow) and Read a contemporary that is beloved by a member of the book community (Nicole from GirlyGirlBookWorm loves it).

This one will count for challenges Read a 2019 release and Read a dark/hard-hitting contemporary.

This book will count for the challenge Read a diverse contemporary (aim to read something outside of your own experience).

This novel will complete challenges Read a contemporary with an illustrated cover and Read a contemporary with plants on the cover (a tree).

I really hope I will manage to finish all of them, or at least three of them and that I will start the fourth one.
Anything less then that I will consider as failure, because last time I participated in a readathon (Reading Rush) I failed big time, so it’s time to win in this reading game for once!

That is it!
Wish me luck!
Also, let me know if you’re participating in Contemporary-a-thon and if you have a tbr post or video, feel free to leave the link so I can visit you.

Reading Rush Wrap Up #ReadingRush #ReadAThon #Books

Hi guys!

So… The last week I should have read more then I did. Tbh, I had no idea I would be tired all the time, but it is what it is.
I wasn’t the best reader, didn’t read as much as I wanted, but I thought it would be fair of me to give you my wrap up, and tell you how many books I have actually finished.

So… My goal was to read at least 4 books during the readathon, and I managed to finish only two, and I also read half of the third book.

There were also some changes from my original TBR.

Overall, I finished: and , and I read half of: .

When it comes to numbers, last week I have read 940 pages, which is not THAT bad, but let’s be honest, it could have been better.

Tell me, have you been participating in Reading Rush or any other readathon lately? If yes, how many books do you usually finish during the readathon?

Reading Rush TBR #ReadingRush #BookLovers #BookBloggers

It has been so long since I participated in a read-a-thon of any kind, and to be honest, I really missed it.
I always loved readathons, but life has been pretty busy for the last couple of years, and I simply didn’t have time to do them.

However, now when I don’t have to go to work and have to rest all the time (doctor’s request) pretty much all I do is read and watch movies, so Reading Rush readathon came in perfect time (July 22nd-28th), and I am so happy to participate.

If you didn’t know, Reading Rush was previously known as BookTubeathon but they changed it’s name this year.
They even have their own platform now where you can officially register and chat with other readers.

There are 7 challenges this year, and I decided to combine some of them because, even though I have all the time in the world to read atm, I am still slow when it comes to reading, so I don’t think it’s possible for me to finish 7 different books.
However, I chose 5 books, and if I manage to finish 4 of them, I will consider this readathon as a success!

Anyway, here are the books I plan to read next week.

Read a book with purple on the cover
and
Read a book you meant to read last year:

Read a book in the same spot for the entire time:

Read an author’s first book:

Read a book with a non-human main character
and
Read and watch a book to movie adaptation: (I know only first book was adapted but I will count this one anyway).

Read a book that has five or more words in the title:

That is it. Wish me luck and tell me will you participate in Reading Rush this year and what are your thoughts on readathons in general?

HoHoHo Readathon Wrap Up and Giveaway Winner Announcement #HoHoHoRAT #Christmas #Readathon #WrapUp

Hi Everyone!

So the HoHoHO Readathon is officially over and it’s time for me to bring you my reading wrap up, and also to announce the winner of my HoHoHo Beautiful Covers Challenge.

I want to thank everyone who participated, Kim from Caffeinated Book Reviewer for hosting it, and I hope we’ll be reading together next year as well.

Wrap Up:

During HoHoHo Readathon I managed to finish three books and started the fourth one.

In total, I read 1226 pages, which counts as 122 pages per day on average.

Overall, I am happy with that, even though I know it could have been better.

This are the books I finished:

This is the book I started but didn’t get to finish (yet!):

Winner

So…. The winner for my Beautiful Covers Challenge is Sophia Rose.

You can see her picture here.

I will message Sophia shortly to ask her what book does she want as her prize.

I would also take this opportunity to thank everyone who commented on my Sunday Post and sent me kind and comforting messages. Your support means a lot to me, especially at this scary time of my life.

Beautiful Covers Challenge giveaway: HoHoHo Readathon #HoHoHoRAT #Christmas #Giveaway #Readathon

Hi guys!

Welcome to Beautiful Covers Challenge.

I hope you are all excited about HoHoHo Readathon and to keep the excitement going I am happy to host Beautiful Covers challenge.
We will keep things quick and simple here, so you wouldn’t waste too much of your precious time and can read instead.

Beautiful Covers Challenge encourages you to show us beautiful festive book covers you admire.
You can take a picture of the book any time during the readathon, and post it on your blog, twitter or instagram.
Picture has to be taken by you, and not just taken from Goodreads or other site.
You don’t have to own the book, you can take a pic with beautiful cover on you phone or tablet, or even on computer. You can be creative as you like.

After you post a picture, leave a comment down bellow with the link (so I, and anyone else who wants can see it), and your linky number from this post here: sign up post.

After that, use the refflecopter to enter.

YOU CAN ENTER HERE.

The prize for this challenge is ONE book of choice from TBD, up to 20$. It can also be a preorder. The Giveaway is international, but TBD has to ship to your country.

This challenge is for HoHoHo Readathon participants only, so if you still haven’t signed up, you can do it HERE.

My Picture:

On Monday 19th, I will post my HoHoHo Readathon Wrap Up and announce the winner in that post, as well as in the Refflecopter link.

Thank you so much for participating in Beautiful Covers challenge and I wish you all good luck during HoHoHo Readathon!

Visit other elves and their challenges here:

Jennifer formerly The Book Nympho “HoHoHoRAT Instagram Challenge“
Michele and Berls @ Because Reading “Christmas Book Cookies“
Tonyalee @ Vivacious Bibliophile “Ho-Ho-Ho Readathon Bingo“
Lindsi @ Do You Dog-ear? “Puzzling Pieces“
Irena @ Book Dust Magic “Beautiful Covers“
Marie @Ramblings of a Daydreamer “Movie Madness“

HoHoHo Readathon announcement, goals and TBR #HoHoHoRAT #Christmas #Bookbloggers #ReadAThon

Hi guys!

It’s that time of the year: time to enjoy some festive stories, discover new books and to keep up with the ones we still didn’t have a chance to read.

Wonderful Kimberly from Caffeinated Book Reviewer is hosting HoHoHo Readathon for the Sixth time this year, and it will be my second time participating.

What make this readathon even more special to me is that I won’t only participate as a reader, but I will also be one of the elves this year.
That means I will host one challenge (Beautiful covers challenge) so make sure to sign up and participate in HoHoHo Readathon, because it will be so much fun, and you will have a chance to win some bookish prizes too!
All challenges and prizes will be international (as I understood).

Readathon starts on November 9th and ends on November 18th.
That means we have 9 days to read as many festive/winter books as possible!

My Goals

I know I said I won’t push myself when it comes to number of books I read, but my aim is to read as many books possible, and to review all of them here on my blog.
Since I don’t have specific number of books I want to read (actually, I do want to read all of the books, but I’m keeping it realistic and I KNOW it is not possible), my goal is to read 150-200 pages per day, everyday during HoHoHo Readathon.
However, on busy days or if something unexpected happens I can read 100 pages, but everything less then 100 pages read per day I will consider as a failure.

My TBR

There are five physical books I chose to read this year (Christmas Ever After will be a reread, but I want to reread it so I can review it), but I have also requested three festive books via Netgalley and I hope I will be approved for at least one.
Keep your fingers crossed for me! 😉

Tell me what are your plans?
Will you be participating in HoHoHo readathon?
If yes, what are your goals? If you have a blog post about it, feel free to leave your link.

If you’re still not sure whether to participate or not, I encourage you to do. You can sign up here.